Cute

"I want to know whether some non-Kobold shows up here from time to time. Or whether there was some non-Kobold in the past who showed up and beat some of you up."

She called out, putting both hands on her sides and puffing out her chest.

"No."

"Nn-nnn."

"Only us. No non-Kobolds. No stranger… no foreign Kobolds either."

"Never ever."

"I never… nnn…hmmm? I had never seen non-Kobold until today…? Now…?"

Surprisingly enough, this time, she got an answer, and not just one - a bunch of Kobolds trotted over with exasperated looks in their eyes and began speaking over each other.

Contrary to their initial reaction, the short, scaly humanoids were now doing their best to respond. Some did it rather easily, and others were trying very hard to speak in the language Melinda was using.

"Me! Saw a non-kobold! Umm…! U-umm… before? Ago…? Non-Kobold looking for something over there! But… umm… me… I…? I got closer, and non-Kobold ran away!"

Funnily enough, the very first Kobold, the girl, spoke to raised its short arm and jumped in place to get her attention before raising its high-pitched, slightly scratchy voice while pointing to the side.

"...that's so adorable…"

Melinda's prideful posture crumbled as she slouched and covered her mouth with one hand, hiding her smile while muttering.

"Mm-hmm, although the sudden change is rather suspicious."

"I second that."

While the gold-haired girl was melting over the eagerness of the scaly Kobolds, Zane shook his head with a doubtful expression and the maid immediately agreed with him.

"Really? Did you have a good look at that non-Kobold? How did they look like?"

After a moment to compose herself, Melinda singled out the gray-scaled Kobold and inquired.

"Brown clothes! With belts! Shiny bracelet and a ring! Had a bag…! Umm.. a bag…? A hood! Had a hood over head! Sneaky sneaky! But skills smelled hu-man! So hu-man! Fast! Didn't want to talk!"

After fidgeting for a bit, the one Kobold declared, clearly using all of the available brainpower to recall the scene.

Considering that the Kobolds weren't wearing any clothes or equipment, it was impressive that they were aware of what either of those were and could accurately recognize them.

Or, as Zane pointed out, it was the result of fragmentary bloodline knowledge.

"Interesting! Thank you, that's very helpful. Can you recall how long ago that human was spying on your quarry?"

Melinda nodded her head approvingly before adding.

"Eh? How long… ago…? Umm…"

The gray-scaled Konold flinched up and let out a troubled screech before looking up to the sky and then down at its little hands.

"Umm… Ummmm…!"

With its lizard-like face showing clear distraught, it seemed that the Kobold was doing its best to count something…

"Nnngh…! A-agin… ummm… ummm…!"

…but each time the number went above the number of its fingers and thumbs - amounting to eight as Kobolds had three fingers and a thumb at each hand - it would lose count and let out a pitiful screech before trying its best to start again.

"Me… I should… I should be able to count that…! I should! Umm…!"

With yet another failed attempt, the gray-scaled Kobold cried out, greatly upset at itself.

"This… this doesn't feel right… Ross was having such a hard time with speaking…"

The maid shuddered and took a step back, unable to get used to the sight of a monster getting so much better at speaking the human language in such a ridiculously short time without being taught.

"...Ross…? Wait, you don't mean the Pigkin Orc the girl from Melinda's class has tamed, do you?"

Zane picked up on her words and straightened his back, calling out in shock.

"We're going to have some serious talk later."

He added, glaring between the maid and the gold-haired girl.

"Putting aside the actual monster. As was said before, Kobolds are a devolved race. They never were monsters. You can even think about them the same way you do about bandits. It might help."

"...I don't think that it's as helpful as you expect it to be, young Zane…"

The monstrous man added and pointed out, but his suggestion made the maid's expression turn sour as she responded.

While the two of them talked, Melinda was almost done with hearing out the gray-scaled Kobold.

"I see…. The time period seems to match with when Adi hired the scout to check on the Silva Head… That guy admitted to running away before conducting any proper research too…"

The gold-haired girl leaned back, stroking her chin while thinking out loud.

"...hold on… but… but doesn't all of that mean that this quarry isn't allied with any demon lord?"

"...Kobolds don't like demons… I never met a demon… but I can tell I don't like them!"

Melinda let out a quiet gasp, which was immediately picked on by the gray-scaled Kobold, whose expression turned grumpy as it declared in its scratchy voice.

"Whoa…! As expected of the remains of the ancient Draconid race!"

The gold-haired girl's eyes widened, and she let out an impressed chuckle.

"You heard it too?"

"Indeed. And I believe we are thinking about the same thing, young Zane."

Behind Melinda's back, the white-haired monstrous man and a maid exchanged meaningful glances and nodded to each other.

The two approached the gold-haired girl from the sides and placed their hands on her shoulders…

"...yes…?"

Confused, Melinda stared between Zane and the maid, asking out loud as it didn't appear that either of them was going to dive into an explanation.

"You said it yourself, my lady. Kobolds will obey the ones who make them submit."

"Taking the spot will come with a bunch of challenges on its own, but it's surely better than having them fall into demon hands."

The maid curtsied to the gold-haired girl, slightly raising her skirt so it wouldn't tangle her legs during kicks, and the monstrous young man cracked his knuckles with a stern expression.

"...?!"

Their aura became threatening enough for even the clueless Kobolds to understand they found themselves in danger.

"Adi. Zane."

Melinda herself straightened her back, dusting off her butt despite not sitting down, and declared.

And then she put the tiniest bit of pressure on her heel…

*THUMP*

*RUMBLE*

*WA-CRACK*

Caused by the massive earthquake, a giant crack starting at Melinda's foot encircled the entire valley, reaching back to its point of origin within a second, creating a very obvious division between it and the mountains surrounding it.